Clark v. New York State Elec. & Gas Corp.
| Decision Date | 25 October 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-CV-164.,98-CV-164. |
| Citation | 67 F.Supp.2d 63 |
| Parties | Barbara G. CLARK, Plaintiff, v. NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC & GAS CORPORATION, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York |
Karen L. Kimball, Wynantskill, NY, for Plaintiff.
Hinman, Howard & Kattell, LLP, Binghamton, NY, Leslie Prechtl Guy, of counsel, for Defendant.
Plaintiff Barbara G. Clark commenced the instant action on January 30, 1998, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"), New York State Executive Law §§ 290 et seq., the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq. ("ADA"), the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq. ("FMLA"), and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. ("FLSA") against the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation ("NYSEG"), alleging, inter alia, discrimination due to gender and disability, unlawful retaliation, and unlawful docking of pay. Plaintiff seeks monetary damages (compensatory and punitive) and reinstatement to her position (or an award of front-pay) with additional payment for overtime.
Defendant now moves for summary judgment pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 56 seeking dismissal of the Complaint.
Plaintiff began her employment with NYSEG in 1980 as a teller clerk. Between 1980 and 1997 she received a number of promotions and merit based raises, eventually obtaining the position of meter services supervisor in Oneonta, New York, in 1994. Bruce Peer was Plaintiff's supervisor in Oneonta, until November 1996 when Kathryn King became the acting supervisor in Oneonta. Richard Cerchiara supervised Peer and King.
Jean Pearson, Senior Trainer of Meter Services, traveled around New York working with "field personnel" and evaluating "their training, tools, attitudes, procedures, strengths, weaknesses, etc. and made efforts to bring some consistency to the meter groups state wide." Pearson, Aff. ¶ 3. In late 1995 and early 1996 Pearson came to Oneonta to work with the meter groups. At this time, Pearson noted that there were problems in the group supervised by Plaintiff, id. ¶¶ 10-11, and told both Peer and Plaintiff that "there was going to be a mutiny" in Plaintiff's department. Peer Aff. ¶ 13. She also told Plaintiff she should "leave [her] job right now." Clark Dep., Feb. 25, 1999, p. 67. After this, Peer told Plaintiff to meet with Pearson regarding the problems. Id. ¶ 16. Pearson prepared a memo dated March 5, 1996, a copy of which was given to Plaintiff, documenting her appraisal of Plaintiff's department and the problems therein. See Pearson, Aff. Ex. A. Plaintiff believes this memo was written to retaliate for complaints Plaintiff made regarding Pearson's training session. Clark Aff. ¶ 31.
On April 24, 1996, Plaintiff submitted an injury report to Huemec Garcia, Plaintiff's acting supervisor while Peer was away on special assignment, complaining of numbness and pain in both hands and arms. See Clark Aff. ¶ 31. At this point, she had not received any medical care for the condition and had not taken any time off due to her condition. See Clark Dep., Jan. 28, 1999, p. 56.
Between February and July 1996, Plaintiff's supervisors documented a number of complaints regarding Plaintiff's performance and response to criticism. For example Pearson met with Peer after her field evaluations and noted that Pearson, Aff. ¶ 12. Richard Cerchiara, the Manager of Customer Satisfaction, Assistance and Training, also received complaints about Plaintiff's management of the Oneonta meter department. John DeSarro, a manager in the Oneonta office, complained that Plaintiff was difficult to work with. See Cerchiara, Aff. ¶ 13. In response to a memo from Plaintiff requesting personnel from other divisions, DeSarro sent Cerchiara and Tum Curran, a NYSEG employee, an email, which stated:
Tom, you and I have spoken regarding the local problem with the management of the meter [department]. I'll assist any [department] anytime they really need it. I don't think this is the case and my "support" is only making matters worse in my opinion. Please let me know how I can truly help the situation without a continuation of the ill feeling toward the meter [department] that pervades this division.
Cerchiara Aff., Ex. B.
In July, Cerchiara received a call from Cindy Allen, Corporate Stores Manager, requesting intervention into a personnel situation between Allen and Plaintiff because Plaintiff refused to release an employee who had been awarded a job in Allen's division. According to Cerchiara, Plaintiff "had failed to post the new vacancy and would be short-handed without this employee." Cerchiara Aff. ¶ 20. In mid July, Cerchiara and Peer decided to temporarily transfer Plaintiff to Binghamton, and told her this temporary reassignment was because (1) the Binghamton office needed help and (2) Plaintiff needed to get away from Oneonta because of "relationship problems there" and "concern about her ability to supervise her group successfully." Cerchiara Aff. ¶ 26; Peer Aff. ¶¶ 22, 25.
NYSEG denied Plaintiff's requests that she be excused from the temporary assignment and the reassignment be postponed for a week as well as requests for overnight accommodation and overtime pay for the commute hours. See Clark Aff. ¶¶ 44-49; Cerchiara Aff. ¶ 23. Plaintiff was given a company car for the commute. See Peer Aff. ¶ 24. Although Plaintiff claims she informed Peer of her health condition prior to her reassignment, Peer states that he was not aware that Plaintiff had any health concerns and had not received any medical documentation regarding health considerations by this time. See Peer Aff. ¶ 23. Plaintiff alleges that her temporary assignment to Binghamton aggravated her injury because it required additional keyboard time, travel time, and additional work hours. Both Peer and Cerchiara deny knowledge of Plaintiff's disability prior to her reassignment. See Peer Aff. ¶ 23; Cerchiara Aff. ¶ 33.
About the time of her temporary reassignment, Plaintiff agreed to undergo a "360~review," which is a "tool used by NYSEG whereby an employee with performance problems selects a number of peers and subordinates to complete a questionnaire about the employee's performance, skills and characteristics." Peer Aff. ¶ 21. The employee's supervisor participates and the feedback is used to prepare an "action plan" for improving performance. See id.
Plaintiff met with Dr. Elting on June 5, 1996 and was instructed to wear braces on both arms and to restrict her keying activity. Plaintiff states that she provided Peer with a copy of this diagnosis1 and informed him of the results of a follow up appointment. See id. ¶¶ 36-38.
While Plaintiff was reassigned, Defendant continued to receive complaints about Plaintiff's performance from her supervisors in Binghamton. See Peer Aff. ¶ 20.
On September 19, 1996 Plaintiff met with her Binghamton Supervisor, Frank Inglese, and informed him that she was having a great deal of pain in her neck and shoulders due to the extra keying and travel involved in the Binghamton assignment. See Cerchiara, Aff. ¶ 27. On September 25, Plaintiff met with Peer and indicated that she was going to raise a gender discrimination claim.2 At this time Peer told Plaintiff that her supervisors were "receiving complaints about her relationships with other supervisors and the manner the department was being run." Cerchiara Aff. Ex. E. Basically, Plaintiff believed her reassignment was in retaliation for filing the April 24, 1996 injury report and that she was being discriminated against in her job because of her gender. Clark Aff. ¶ 51. The latter belief stemmed from the fact that other male supervisors were not temporarily reassigned. See Clark Dep., Feb. 5, 1999, pp. 11-12. Defendant's internal review of Plaintiff's reassignment indicated that it was premature, but not discriminatory. See id., Ex. C.
In November of 1996, prior to her return to Oneonta, Cerchiara and Plaintiff discussed the perceived problems with Plaintiff's performance. At this time, Plaintiff understood, from conversations with both Peer and Cerchiara, that "she was going to have to improve [her] performance in order to stay in [her] job." Clark Dep. Feb. 5, 1999, p. 51-54. When Plaintiff returned to Oneonta she had a new acting supervisor, Kathryn King. On November 8, 1996, Plaintiff met with Peer and Greg Lapham to discuss her 360~review. See Peer Aff. ¶ 28. At this time, Plaintiff offered a note from her Doctor restricting her keying activity to two hours per day and prohibiting overtime. Cerchiara stated that these were "the first medical restrictions I received about Barbara." Cerchiara Aff. ¶ 33.
Once Plaintiff returned to Oneonta, complaints from employees and peers regarding Plaintiff's performance continued. See King Aff. ¶ 16. By mid-December of 1996 it was apparent to King that Plaintiff's "performance problems were serious." King Aff. ¶ 20. Complaints included, but were not limited to, Plaintiff's inability (or unwillingness) to input information into a "Pen" scheduling device, see King Aff. ¶ 32; her unwillingness to schedule account collections as requested, see King Aff. ¶ 27, and her failure to schedule meter readings based on the "ten month no access list." King Aff. ¶ 29. According to Plaintiff, her relationship with King was strained and she received "hostile and derogatory" treatment from King due to her filing of the internal discrimination complaint. See Clark Aff. ¶ 66.
King's February 10, 1997 specific performance appraisal was critical and stated that "Barbara needs to demonstrate improvement in her relationship skills if she is to remain in her present...
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